The Secret (Hardcover) by Rhonda Byrne - Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

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Let me know	19	54	08/19/2008 07:54PM

lauren rated it:

09/08/07

There are a lot of dodgy life guides out there that promise to solve all your problems. Take Scientology, a religion founded on a bet and bad science-fiction, or The Rules, that dating tract that advises women to play elaborate and conniving games that men are supposedly too stupid to see through. And then there’s The Secret, which is all the more terrifying because, unlike those other guides, on the surface, it seems reasonable, or at least harmless.

The DVD of The Secret kicks off like Th...more There are a lot of dodgy life guides out there that promise to solve all your problems. Take Scientology, a religion founded on a bet and bad science-fiction, or The Rules, that dating tract that advises women to play elaborate and conniving games that men are supposedly too stupid to see through. And then there’s The Secret, which is all the more terrifying because, unlike those other guides, on the surface, it seems reasonable, or at least harmless.

The DVD of The Secret kicks off like The Da Vinci Code, with about the same production values. It’s got all the marks of a romping historical conspiracy flick; Knights Templar and pyramids, a flash of the Rosetta Stone, and an ancient scroll discovered at great risk and buried, presumably for future generations to excavate, like the cunning Australian marketer who has spun practical common sense into magic and, purely coincidentally, a multi-million dollar empire.

I don’t have a problem with the fundamental premise of The Secret – that positive thinking is a good thing. Yes, I agree, we absolutely do determine our experience of reality by our state of mind. I’m much more likely to yell at other drivers if I’m already stressed out, only to cause more stress all round. If I’m in a good mood, it’s more probable that I may banter with random strangers, only to make useful connections. And there are always useful connections. The premise is laid out far more sensibly in Dr. Richard Wiseman’s The Luck Factor, which shows that the lucky ones are the open-minded opportunists.

The Secret, on the other hand, would have you believe that the universe is your catalogue. That it’s not just about being open-minded or maintaining a positive outlook, but that you can actually summon whatever you want into your life, just by thinking about it - like a luxury car for example, because The Secret is very hung up on middle-class materialism.

According to The Secret, it’s as easy as “ask, believe, receive.” And if you don’t receive, the reason is very simple. It’s not because the universe doesn’t work that way. God or Fate or Physics really, really, really does want you to have that convertible. You deserve it. You’re just not believing hard enough. Go buy the audio tapes to make up for it.

Worse than that, according to The Secret, if you suffer a tragedy, a car accident, say, or cancer or a genocide, it’s because you brought that energy into your life just by thinking about it. It’s your fault you got raped, that your child has leukaemia, that your cat got run over. You summoned that into your life, the same way you magicked up that new car.

And even worse than that - the best way to handle the ills of the world? Yup. Don’t think about them. The anti-war movement, is anti. Anti is bad. Anti only brings more anti energy into the world. Be pro-peace instead and stop going to all those violent demonstrations. Turn off the news. Stop feeling sorry for street kids – after all, they could just order up a new life from that magic catalogue, if only they knew how.

Throughout The Secret, the producers suggest that the reason you don’t know all this already is a grand conspiracy, that throughout history, powerful people have actively tried to keep this information from you - when actually it’s The Secret that is the conspiracy trying to keep you down.

And that’s the insiduousness of the thing. Follow Scientology and you’ll be waiting to be ascended with the aliens. Follow The Rules and you’ll end up in an untenable relationship built on make-believe and games. Follow The Secret and you’re doomed to remain sitting on your couch, wishing for the good stuff and hoping all the bad will just go away. (published in The Big Issue magazine as part of my With Teeth column)...less

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6 comments

Bethany rated it:

07/18/07

recommends it for: absolutely no one unless you are a complete moron

this website is too kind. one star means "didn't like it". I hate, hate, hate this book with absolute passion. sorry if you like oprah but she seriously did the world a disservice by recommending this book. apparently there is a dvd also that i don't even think i could stomach. so here's the concept behind "The Secret". You can attract good things to you through your good thoughts. Ok, I'm on board with that. It has worked for me. Ooh, I already knew the Secret! too...more this website is too kind. one star means "didn't like it". I hate, hate, hate this book with absolute passion. sorry if you like oprah but she seriously did the world a disservice by recommending this book. apparently there is a dvd also that i don't even think i could stomach. so here's the concept behind "The Secret". You can attract good things to you through your good thoughts. Ok, I'm on board with that. It has worked for me. Ooh, I already knew the Secret! too bad I didn't use it to make millions like this chick! But no, it goes further. You attract bad things to you through your negative thoughts. Well, negative thoughts are pretty useless, so I can see benefit in trying to decrease or eliminate them. And one time (true story) I did get robbed while traveling after worrying about it for 3 weeks. BUT. There is no gray area with this one. According to the author, people who are raped, killed, maimed, tortured - they all bring it on themselves with their negative thoughts. The people in Darfur should be thinking "here comes the food, there go the guns". The book goes on to say that weight management is simply a matter of "thinking thin" and not looking at fat people (for real), that if you have a stack of bills to pay you should instead picture checks coming in, that you can have everything you want through visualization, such as your hands on the steering wheel of your car, and that you can cure your cancer watching funny movies. There is a weak chapter at the end about how you can use your Secret powers for the common good, like world peace, but why would you want to waste it when you can be driving your new Hummer? I would go so far as to say that this book is not only BAD but it is DANGEROUS. It promotes the self-absorbed, materialistic, shallow outlook of predominantly rich white people to the exclusion of the rest of the planet - while managing to blame them for their problems and justify those in possession of the Secret for not using their visualized wealth to promote social change. Aah, brilliant. genius. avoid this book. do not give money to this woman and her brilliant marketing pyramid!...less

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6 comments

Toni rated it:

02/16/08

Read in April, 2007

A friend asked me to read this book and tell her what I thought. I knew Oprah had endorsed it on her show, so of course it shot right up to number 1 best seller overnight. I was already familiar with the Law of Attraction, which in a nutshell is that Like attracts Like, so if you think negatively about your life, more than likely you will attract negative things (people, situations, energy, etc. ) to yourself; and the reverse it also true. Okay. I can buy that. I have even experienced situations...more

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Ollie rated it:

11/26/07

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: NOBODY!

I'm sure this book only exists thanks to The Da Vinci Code. Sensing a public interest in ancient "secrets" passed down to modern times, the publishers of this awful piece of self-help decided they could market Rhonda Byrne's book and make a killing. They were not wrong. In Brasil, it's spreading like an Old World plague: the film tie-in is always rented out in videostores, and the book is in the top 10 bestseller list. Swept up by its popularity, my mom brought a copy home.

Much lik...more

Like this review? yes (10 people liked it)

4 comments

Gabriel rated it:

03/28/07

bookshelves: craphat

recommends it for: Celestine Prophecy Dropouts

A ridiculously poorly written and assembled collection of tripe, it has no cohesive voice, no cohesive theme, and is completely facile in its subject. I literally threw the book across the room when I read, 'Quantum Physicists will tell you the universe was created from thought!'. No, numbfucker, they won't. Not to mention the 'facts' they assert don't have citations to even lend it the slightest hint of credibility.

If you want me to believe that 'thinking positively will lead to success bec...more

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Katharine rated it:

08/22/07

bookshelves: personalgrowth

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: those with an open mind, philosophers, physicists.

I wasn't interested in reading this book. I thought from the reviews of friends that it was pretty obvious stuff. However, I listened to the audio version. I sort of laughed at first and thought, "duh". I promised to listen to the whole book on CD, and as I listened, the connections between what the author is trying to communicate, and what many world religions try to communicate is huge. I am not a religious person. I found this book inspiring because I wasn't being told that Go...more

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Maggie rated it:

06/03/08

Changed my life forever. I realize how much control I have over my life, my relationships, my happiness, my circumstances...EVERYTHING. I'm totally in charge of my life and I learned and am learning how to create what I want.

I first read it and watched the DVD 9 months ago. I've had some miracles happen in my life since then, things I've created.

For one example: I knew that in feb 2008 are funds from the sale of our last house would be used up and we would then be struggling to finish...more

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Matt rated it:

08/12/08

To be sure, the so-called Secret represents a financially viable means to wealth, obviously so, but let's be clear: only for Rhonda Byrnes, The Secret DVD's producer and book's author.

Thus, Byrnes would have you believe that the world's wealthy, distinguished and famous—every last luminous one of them—attained their high position by dint of simple adherence to a secret law: The Law of Attraction. She shits you not. Furthermore, they (the world's rich, celebrated, and leisured) have all c...more

Like this review? yes (5 people liked it)

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Wendi rated it:

05/21/08

The reason I dislike this book so much is not because of the writing, it's the idea behind The Secret that bothers me so much. Basically The Secret is that whatever you put out into the universe is what comes to you. So if you're a positive happy go lucky person you'll get all this wonderful stuff - be it more friends or cars or more money. If you're a negative person and you put out negativity you'll only get negative things back - like continuing to be in debt, never losing weight. The book sa...more The reason I dislike this book so much is not because of the writing, it's the idea behind The Secret that bothers me so much. Basically The Secret is that whatever you put out into the universe is what comes to you. So if you're a positive happy go lucky person you'll get all this wonderful stuff - be it more friends or cars or more money. If you're a negative person and you put out negativity you'll only get negative things back - like continuing to be in debt, never losing weight. The book says that every single person on this planet is in charge of what they get. It's all about what you can get. Cars, more wealth, love, and weight loss. Better health is secondary.

What pisses me off is how flippant the contributors to the book are about this. They say that while no one deserves cancer or other illnesses (and they never actually come out and say that these people got sick because of their negativity) you could cure yourself from the illness just by being positive. 1) Based on what they have written these people DID in fact make themselves sick with these awful diseases. I don't believe that, but that's what hte authors are saying - if you're a negative person you're going to get all that negativity back. 2) I believe that positive thoughts, prayer, etc can make a person well, but I also believe that we each have a day and time that we will pass away and you can't just blatantly say, "hey, be positive and you'll be fine!"

The other thing I dont' like about the principle is that it's all about entitlement. One of the contributors actually says that the universe is a big catalog and you can go through it and pick out anything you want. So if you want a new car all you have to do is visualize that car, then convince yourself it's already yours and you'll get it.

Um...yeah. Okay. Why should you do that? Just because you can get something doesn't mean you should. We are not all entitled to have everything we could ever want. It's ridiculous to think so.

Also, I don't like the idea that the universe is just this giant Santa Claus type of thing. Another contributor says that God is the universe and that since we're all made inthe likeness of God we're all gods too and so we should be able to do anythin He does and get anything we want.

WHOA! Big WHOA!!! I do not believe I am a god. I don't believe I am godlike. I'm human. My ultimate goal is to be like Christ, but I never will be Christ.

This book is truly a commentary on our society at the moment. Everyone thinks they deserve respect (I hate listen to kids on MTV yelling at each other about how no one respects them, why should we?) and at least 15 minutes of fame. What happened to just wanting to be happy, have a bunch of friend that you love and they love you in return? To be healthy and whole? To be good to our neighbors and the people who aren't as blessed as we are? What happened to these things?

The Secret and other books and movies and TV shows like it. It's all about the individual now and this book just proves it....less

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Caleb rated it:

05/01/08

Read in October, 2007

One of the recent publishing phenomenons has been a book, printed with pages designed to look like faded vellum and enigmatically titled The Secret. In the foreward, the author promises to reveal "The Great Secret - The Secret to life" claiming that it was known to Plato, Shakespeare, Newton, Beethoven, Lincoln, Edison and Einstein (among others).

Far from these great thinkers, inventors and composers, the author does liberally sprinkle her novels with quotes - from a plethora of se...more One of the recent publishing phenomenons has been a book, printed with pages designed to look like faded vellum and enigmatically titled The Secret. In the foreward, the author promises to reveal "The Great Secret - The Secret to life" claiming that it was known to Plato, Shakespeare, Newton, Beethoven, Lincoln, Edison and Einstein (among others).

Far from these great thinkers, inventors and composers, the author does liberally sprinkle her novels with quotes - from a plethora of self-help gurus both past and present. But I get ahead of myself. I had borrowed The Secret from a friend, thinking it a work of fiction, on which point I was sorely mistaken. I begin with this disclaimer: I am not a fan of self help books. In fact, I consider the entire genre to be rather disingenuously named - after all if you truly wanted to help yourself, you would not be seeking the valued advice of all these other writers on everything from how to get yourself hitched to how to make more money.

I decided to read the book, mainly due to curiousity about what made it so popular. However, what grated immediately was the author adopting a style of writing that I must, somewhat tongue in cheek, term the "British person overseas" style. A British person overseas, faced with a foreigner who, somewhat bafflingly, cannot speak English, has a tendency to repeat himself, usually speaking slower and louder, until comprehension is achieved. So too, the author of The Secret shows a faith in the idea that by repeating her key point, often with minimal variation, supported with quotations from various self help gurus basically saying the same thing, would lead the reader to acceptance rather than annoyance.

However, this rather simplifies my task in summarizing the ideas behind The Secret (which are anyhow contained in the handy end of chapter summaries - no point reading the rest of it, really). Basically, the Secret it founded on the Law of Attraction - we attract what we think back to ourselves. What we think about will come back to us. Our thoughts become things. I am sure you get the point by now.

So, if we think negative things, we attract negative things to us. If we feel bad, we attract bad things. So how do we use the law of attraction? We only have to ask, believe and then we will receive. To believe, we must think as if we already have received what we are asking for. If we do so, we will receive it. So, if you want to "lose weight" don't think about having to lose 20kg. Instead, just tell yourself "I am 52kg" (even if you are really 72kg). Once you feel that you are your perfect weight you will become it. Visualising what you want, and feeling a constant gratitude for what you already have will speed up the process, apparently.

The author then helpfully outlines how you can apply the Secret to Money, Relationships, Health and the World. Stop now, and read through the summary above and try for yourself how to apply this to any of the above categories. Let me use money as an example. Wait a minute, you might say, so growing rich just involves focusing on wealth (remember: you should never focus on bills or debt as you will just attract more of that negative stuff), imagining that you already have the money that you want, visualising the money (or any idea that you have that will make you all that moolah), and of course giving money away and feeling gratitude and generosity in doing so, as it will catalyze the process. Isn't that all a bit easy? But of course, that is the point! The Secret is amazingly simple and easy!

In fact, you can join the many people who have already utilised the Secret to find wealth, happiness in relationships and good health. It really is that easy! The author liberally cites examples ranging from a person visualising herself owning a copy of a DVD copy of The Secret (and then winning it in a special online contest) to the members of Belize Natural Exploration Limited who used the method in combination with a determination to find oil and natural gas (against the advice of trained geologists) and struck it rich. The Secret is after all quite versatile since the law of attraction permeates everything. You can use The Secret to attain everything from a dream house, a perfect life partner or a parking space.

Given the obvious cynicism I have employed in writing about the book thus far, you would think that I found it a complete waste of time. That isn't necessarily the case. It does suggest that there is merit in thinking positively, rather than negatively. In fact, thinking positively might just change your life. That is a self-help staple and a piece of age old wisdom that you don't need to spend another $30 to learn. As Bobby McFerrin sang, "Don't Worry, Be Happy"....less

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McWriter rated it:

08/10/07

Read in August, 2007

recommends it for: no one

Ick. This book was just. So. Not believable. At the beginning, the author writes about the law of attraction, specifically that if you believe in something, it can happen - like, if you believe you will one day fall in love, marry, and have a family or if you believe you will succeed in education and earn your PhD, than, doggonit, you can.

It's as the book continues and the words change from "can" to "will definitely" that the author lost me. For example, if you want a ce...more

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Bianca rated it:

07/30/07

Read in July, 2007

When I started reading this book, I really had no idea what it was about. Maybe I live under a rock, but I didn't know that it was on Oprah's book club list. As I read the first few pages, I felt as though the authoress was writing an infomercial... trying REALLY hard to sell me something.

The basic idea of this book is about the secret of complete happiness and to getting everything you want. Her theory condensed is that positive thinking will get you everything you want. I like the ide...more

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Maca rated it:

02/27/08

Read in February, 2008

recommends it for: nobody

First of all, I want to say that I respect everyone who has read and liked this book; but I didn't like it at all, because I can't agree with the ideas in it.

I had to read this book for work and after a few pages I was done.

The millions copies sold only show how much people are in need of something to believe in.

I think being possitive is crucial in order to achieve happiness; but I strongly believe that we cannot sit around "only thinking" about what we want and making ...more

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Mahsa rated it:

04/04/08

recommended to Mahsa by: بينا هوشمند
recommends it for: به همه كساني كه آرزوهاي بزرگي دارند

من اعتقاد ندارم كه تمام مشكلات ما با انديشه و انرژي مثبت قابل حل است و كتابهايي از اين دست را خرافه آميز مي دانم چيزي شبيه باورهاي ديني مختلف كه هيچ مدركي براي اثباتشان نيست من معتقدم هر كسي بايد در مواردي كه كاري از دستش بر مي آيد در جهان واقعي تلاش كند و در مرحله اي كه ديگر كار�...more

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Michael rated it:

03/09/08

Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: Everyone

The Secret is perhaps best summarized in an entirely separate work, the Strangest Secret, which is an audio presentation by Earl Nightingale where he demands “you must control your thoughts.” Rhonda Byrne then explains by controlling your thoughts and ensuring that they are of a positive nature, anything, in any aspect of life, is achievable. More specifically, The Secret explains that like things attract, so positive, can do thoughts create positive outcomes while negative thoughts would cr...more

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Marnie rated it:

07/31/07

Read in December, 2007

Call me jaded, but these people have been drinking the kool aid. Don’t get me wrong- I embrace and appreciate the power of positive thinking and believe that an optimistic frame of mind can go a long way. But, The Secret is a bit extreme. The core of The Secret is the law of attraction, which basically says you attract what you think- think it and it will come. It says that you simply need to ask, believe, and receive whatever you want from the catalog of the universe. One part says, “It is ...more

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

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Kammy rated it:

11/17/07

Read in July, 2007

recommends it for: no one

Complete drivel. There is benefit in positive thinking, but this book encourages "magical thinking." If you want and plan for a desired object or outcome, the forces of the universe will align to make that happen for you.

The logic offered as to why you don't always get what you hope for is that subconsciously you feared you would not get that thing, therefore undermined the power of earth's forces to bring you what you want. In otherwords, if things don't work well for you, it...more

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The Secret

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